How Kiz’s Friend Forced His Way Onto His Bag This Week

Hey, Four Play listeners, you can find us every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

What if you could replace your windows and doors today and not pay a dime for two years? This May, Renewal by Andersen makes it happen.

For a limited time, get beautiful new windows and doors with no money down, no monthly payments, and no interest until May of twenty twenty-eight with a minimum purchase of six.

That's right, install now and pay later, way later.

But this offer won't last.

It ends May thirty-first.

Visit renewalbyandersenhome.com today and take advantage of this limited time offer.

Stella Blue Coffee is more than just great coffee.

It's coffee with a purpose.

Introducing We Brew to Rescue, a nationwide campaign using proceeds from our new ready-to-drink cans to help fund 1,000 pet adoptions this year.

Every can you crack open helps a real pet find a real home.

Simple as that.

Made with 100% Colombian coffee, each 11-ounce can delivers smooth, drinkable energy with a boost of protein.

Available in espresso cafe mocha and espresso sweet cream.

Built for mornings, long days, and everything in between.

Drink Stella Blue, fuel your day, and help save a pet's life.

You can follow our progress in real time throughout the campaign by watching the adoption tracker on our site.

Grab yours now at stellabluecoffee.com, Amazon, and select retailers nationwide.

The Ireland trip rolls on, and we have a full recap of Royal County Down.

We rank our golf courses.

We've got Kevin Kisner coming on this show.

He's playing in the PGA Tour event at Colonial this week, so it's a lovely, lovely show.

Packed.

Bryson, maybe a direct response possibly to Francis' comments.

Francis is on the show.

It's all brought to you by Chevy.

That's the main point.

The Chevy Equinox, it's your do-it-all SUV from your daily drives, your weekend trips, your last-minute tee times.

They've got great cargo space, hidden storage under the rear floor.

We know that because we roll deep with gear.

We've got camera equipment all over.

I'm looking at boxes, gigantic boxes, golf bags, travel bags, all of it.

We're on the road all the time, 200 days a year, whatever it might be, and we're in that Chevy Equinox all the time.

The Chevy Equinox.

Shout out to Chevrolet for being a part of the brand for so many years.

And yeah, we're in the midst of a trip of a lifetime, and it wouldn't be able to happen without brands like Chevrolet putting their name behind our name.

So a lot of fun has been had this week, and we've got a lot of stuff in the future with Chevrolet that we are very excited about.

So thank you to Chevrolet and the Equinox.

We love it.

The bold, athletic, and confident style of the Equinox looks just as good at the golf course as it does off the map.

Active trim is awesome.

Big touchscreen, awesome.

Puts all your music, your maps, and tech front and center.

So a big thanks to Chevy and the Equinox for supporting this show.

Chevy Equinox is your do-it-all, go-anywhere SUV.

Oh, Rick.

What's up, my brother?

I've got a buddy who struggles with that shot a lot.

His name's Frankie Borelli.

So the guys actually gave him a nickname of Butter Knives because he [laughs] he always knives it across the green.

Broke 100.

Yeah, now you got to break 90.

We appreciate what you guys do for golf.

It's been really cool.

Thank you.

You're making it cool.

We appreciate it.

I was like, "Hey, Phil, you owe me fucking $29.99." And he grabs 100.

He's like, "Yeah, I won 90,000 of these yesterday." He goes, "Take 100 and go fuck yourself." [laughs] What? What are you guys hitting today? Um, this ain't a hobby.

Fore Play, presented by Barstool Sports.

We come to you yet again from the sleeve Donard here in County Down.

We're in the town of Newcastle in Ireland.

We played Royal County Down yesterday.

We're going to speak much about that, I'm sure.

But the trip rolls on, so much so that we're sitting here debating flying home early because we've been in Ireland for a long time.

[laughs] But I mean, this is going to be three consecutive shows I think people have listened to where we're in Ireland, which is a big stretch for them because those shows come out like nine days apart, so, or like a week apart.

So we're still here.

We've got Royal Portrush tomorrow, which is really just a phenomenal way to kind of put a cap, put a bow on the trip, it feels like.

And then we're off to the Dublin area and eventually flying home.

But much to get to.

Kevin Kisner, you haven't heard from him for a while because he's not on this trip, but he's playing Colonial this week.

He's won there before.

They gave him a sponsor's invite to play in the tournament on the weekend.

You know, CBS is doing the broadcast, so it'll be quite interesting if Kiz can make the cut and be playing professional golf on the weekend.

He hasn't, I don't think, played on tour since November, which was the RSM Classic, which is another one that he's won before, had a lot of good results in.

So I know he treated that like sort of a big deal of him going to the RSM last year.

We've talked about it before, but Kiz for a long time was top 50 in the career money earnings on the PGA Tour.

And there's a special exemption if you're in the top 50 that you have PGA Tour status.

So Kiz has always had that status.

He hasn't had the results over the last two or three years that he's wanted, so he has moved outside of that top 50.

Therefore, he has very, very limited access or basically no access unless he's getting sponsors invites.

So that's why he's playing this week.

We're going to hear from him second half of the show.

Kiz is doing like the Pro-Am, and then he's going to jump on, and we're going to get a nice refresh from Kiz.

But speaking of Kiz, we also have to mention the Sebonic video.

We did- Yep ... same format.

We were out in the Hamptons.

I know we talked about it a lot when we were there, but we were out in the Hamptons.

It was an incredible two or three days that we had out there.

Frankie with his connections was able to set us up.

We stayed at Sebonic.

We played Shinnecock.

We put that video out.

It was awesome.

We kind of came up with this... format of taking our handicaps, maybe adjusting a little bit, and then just playing ball and hole against Kevin Kisner, seeing if he could chase any or all of us down at Shinnecock.

I don't want to give away the full result if you haven't watched, but it came down to the very last putt, which was awesome.

We're running that same format back at Sobonim.

Sobonim hosted the 2013 US Women's Open, so we played those same tees, um, and we came up with the same scoring.

Uh, we started at a certain number under par, I think 15 under, myself and Frankie.

Trent was 25 under.

It was windy, it was chilly.

But Sobonim is a much more wide open course.

It wasn't as long as Shinnecock, and we just kind of saw how we did.

So that video should be out now.

Make sure you check that out.

Otherwise, uh, you know, it's nice to be here in Ireland still, I guess.

Uh, there was much talk on the last episode about massages, massage cancelizations.

Mm.

Trent.

Um, a couple of massages have happened since last recording.

Actually this morning, if anybody wants to give their review, uh, of that experience.

Just came from a massage.

Yeah.

Haven't gone back to the room.

Literally got off the table straight to the podcast.

Feel like a, like a bowl of ge- uh, gelatin right now.

Okay.

[laughs]

You know? As a ...

Probably more than I usually do, because I'm pretty soft.

Um, I like mas- massages.

I think I get a little bit nervous going into them because I'm not, I'm probably not the best body that they've seen in there working on it.

They can feel a lot of, like, the bony structures and they can feel all the knots that they're getting out of me and it's a little bit ...

You know how, do you get self-conscious when they start picking at certain knots-

Sure

... and it's just popping and popping and popping, and you're like, "I know it's not supposed to be doing that."

Yeah, you're just kind of laying your body naked basically-

[laughs]

... out there in front of a stranger.

It's very, um, it's very nerve-wracking, for sure.

Uncomfortable.

But I always think about, like, the other bodies that they see.

True.

Must be horrific.

I was a delicate delight, I bet.

Yeah.

[laughs]

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

I know that I'm doing them a favor with my body.

[laughs]

[laughs] Right.

Which is why I don't tip.

[laughs]

[laughs]

[laughs]

No, it felt good though.

She said I had the softest feet she's ever felt.

I wasn't sure if you were gonna talk about that.

Something I gotta deal with.

You have the softest feet sh- softest feet she's ever felt.

A masseuse feels a lot of feet.

Tons.

Wow.

Something weird about it.

Huh.

Now I'm thinking, like, am I not blue collar enough? But I don't think that equates to feet tenderness and-

Right.

That's interesting.

That must be, uh, the added cushion and comfort of the Adidas Golf shoes you wore.

Oh, [laughs] very nice.

Yeah.

Um, yeah.

No, it was a, it was a delightful little massage.

I will say that we had four massages booked, if we're gonna get into the nitty-gritty of it.

Sure.

Francis was one of those, and he let that ...

And then there was even text messages sent around saying, "Hey, Francis, if you're not gonna use that, maybe Booze could take it.

Maybe Brennan could take it.

Maybe Trent could take it." And, uh, that went to no response, and then that massage kind of just didn't get used.

Uh, I, I seem to recall a number of pretty concrete conversations last night-

[laughs]

... where I was like, "Yeah, I'm definitely not gonna use that massage tomorrow."

I remember you saying that too, but then it was said that Francis would use it.

I don't know where that came from-

[laughs]

... because I was not-

I think, I think where the miscommunication came where it was up to you to then bestow that massage onto someone.

I agree with that.

Oh.

My God, I should never-

[laughs]

I would never dare to have such an honor.

[laughs]

Fair enough.

[laughs]

But-

I did.

There was a 10:00 AM massage and I got a phone call from the spa about 10:40, and they were like, "Yeah, nobody showed up yet, but if they do, you know, they can still use the treatment." So then I texted Brennan.

I was like, "If you want to send somebody else-"

Oh, nice

...

but I think it was too, it was too late, I think, at that, that point-

Oh

... or they decided it was too late.

Trent, I sense that you're a little mad at me, so I got you a present.

I'm not mad at you.

Oh, what's in there?

I re- I want to be clear, I was not ...

It was, the massage was offered up to me and I was like, "Give it to one of the guys," 'cause I-

What do you got there? Oh.

Oh, my.

Is that a cheesecake? [laughs]

Whoa, got any more cheesecake?

Oh.

[laughs]

No, it's, it's a cinnamon roll.

Oh.

[laughs]

This frosting is so good.

I had a feeling you might like that.

Let's get a look at that thing.

Look at this thing.

Oh my God.

Wow.

Yeah.

Oh, no.

Oh, Trent.

Take it.

Take it.

I got it, I got it, I got it.

That's worse than what I did with the massage.

You're right, you're right.

We're even, we're even.

[laughs]

We're even.

Look at that.

Where did we go where someone told us about the cinnamon rolls? Was th- wasn't there a conversation-

Maloueta Booth

... that we had had with someone about a cinnamon roll? It was a caddy somewhere, Trent, and he was like, "You gotta try," it was like a local delicacy, and we had asked about it.

No?

Boy, I don't remember.

Okay.

Sorry.

You can eat that whenever you want.

I th- I think it's gonna happen now, if that's-

Do it

... where our eyes are.

Yeah, you can put your mic down and just-

I think it should

... just we'll, we'll carry the show while you eat that.

Thank you.

'Cause I think it, everybody would prefer if you ate it.

Okay.

Oh, it was Charlie Hull and she was talking about that cinna- cinnamon roll.

Remember that?

Wow.

I do remember that now.

And the, uh, yeah, maybe that's-

Charlie made me do that

... maybe that's a similar one 'cause we're over here in the UK.

Dude, this thing looks fantastic.

Thank you very much, Francis.

Oh, you're welcome.

You're welcome.

That's awesome.

I, I don't want my guy going hungry.

No, that can't happen.

No.

It's a nice move, man.

Yeah, that's a good move.

Wow.

Look at this.

Look at that thing.

Yes.

[laughs]

Dude, what-

Confident attack

... what is on that? What is that? It's like a two-tiered-

It's frosting.

No, the bottom part's like-

Yes

... bread or a waffle.

Oh, it makes me so happy.

This is worth the view on YouTube if you're listening to the podcast.

Oh.

Go to the YouTube channel-

Should do this every week

... and go watch, what is it? Probably three minutes into the thing.

Go skip to Trent eating a cinnamon roll, 'cause it is-

[laughs]

... extremely good viewing.

Mm-hmm.

It's gonna brighten up your day.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, before we get into Royal County Down, and just to put a bow on the Sobonim thing, I think it's really cool that you get a pro golfer like Kevin Kisner at a local elite club that they don't typically get to play.

It's a little bit more playable than the Shinnecocks and all the open venues.

You get a place like Shinneco- uh, like, like Sobonim that gets a lot of, um, you know, just, like, average golf play, and it's obviously one of the most elite golf courses on the island and in the world.

But, um, to have him out there and seeing what he would shoot amongst the regular members that get to play there every day, I think is a really cool thing, uh, to see how he plays at, like, a non-PGA Tour venue.

Yeah.

It, it, no, it was awesome to, uh, to watch him out there and he, you know, him mixing it up with us and our games and it being competitive where we're against him, but he's also helping us with our swings, with our moves-

Yeah

... with whatever.

It's just a very fun dynamic with, uh, with Kis, and he's just great on camera.

I mean, he hits the ball like you wouldn't believe.

believe.Make sure you scope that out, uh, the latest on YouTube, and it's just visually spectacular.

I mean, Subotic is off the charts.

It's right on the sound right there.

Wow.

Tom Doak, Jack Nicklaus combination.

Did you destroy it? Gotta lean that up.

He's gonna wash it down now.

Yeah.

That's a beautiful process.

Good start to the day.

Makes me so happy.

Nice.

I'm gonna start doing that every day.

[laughs] Francis loves giving Trent treats.

I like it, 'cause I like them too.

Yeah.

And we're treats brothers.

[laughs]

Brothers in treats.

[laughs]

[laughs] Yeah.

Royal County Down, man.

Royal County Down.

I have a quick question.

Sure.

Do any of you have any idea what, uh, brings about the designation of Royal for these golf courses? We're playing Royal Portrush today.

Obviously, there's, there's Royal, uh, Melbourne.

There's all these, you know, Royal courses.

No.

Why are they...

How do they get that? How does that happen?

We'll look it up.

It's a really good question.

Royal Birkdale, right?

Yeah.

Royal...

There's a bunch of Royals.

Royal Lytham & St Annes.

It's a lot of the Open rota courses, obviously, but not all of them.

The Old Course is not Royal.

Is it Royal St Andrews?

No.

No, it's not.

I don't believe so.

I believe it's just St Andrews.

Should I have shared any of that cinnamon roll with you?

No, no, no, no.

Okay.

No.

After I ate it, I thought, "He brought that to me and I gave him none."

I was eating it through you.

Okay.

All right.

[laughs] I shouldn't...

Yeah, I should-

If you, if you watch the tape back, when you opened your mouth for a bite, I went, "Ah."

Okay.

[laughs] You're living vicariously.

[laughs]

Yes, exactly right.

I-

Like I was controlling you.

It was a ve- [laughs] It was a very good cinnamon roll.

Yeah.

Um, that's a really-

Mm-hmm

... interesting question about the Royal designation.

I don't know.

Mm.

Not sure either.

Yeah.

It's g- there's gotta be something.

You can't just be-

All right, found a Town & Country, uh, article.

It says, "Why does Royal Portrush Golf Club have Royal in its name?" Uh, "It became Royal," bl- oh, "The changing names have to do with the British royal family and the history of Royal golf clubs." And it's gonna go into this whole entire thing.

"In 1892, the then Duke of York, later King George V, became the club's royal patron, and in the, uh, institution, they added Royal to the title because he became the royal patron of the golf cl- the golf club."

Does that just mean he played it one time?

I believe so.

He was a patron?

So if any Royal now- "In 1895, the patronage changed to his father, Prince Albert Edward, later King Edward VII, becoming Royal Portrush.

Around the world, around 70 golf clubs have Royal in their title.

Officially, clubs must apply for the Royal title, and only the Sovereign has authority to grant it." Oh.

"Furthermore, the grants of the Royal title and royal patronage are separate honors." So it's kind of like- Wow ...

getting knighted.

Yeah.

Feels like it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It has the Duke of Windsor- Imagine that's like- ... playing golf at Royal Portrush in 1962.

So yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a go- it's almost like their club.

That's an interesting, like, part of their daily tasks that would come across the Royal's desk.

It'd be like, "Hey, this club's appoint, you know, uh, applying to be a Royal status." Nope.

Not today.

Not today.

Are there any golf courses in Ireland, not Northern Ireland, that have the Royal designation? Or do they just say, "We don't want it.

Fuck the Kingdom."

I don't know, but, uh, Portrush, oof, it's got a tough one.

1999, Prince Andrew.

Mm.

Mm.

That's how they got that, so- Right.

Not great.

That's not how they got it, but he became the royal patron.

Mm-hmm.

So, um, oh, Queen Elizabeth stripped her son of all of his royal patron- patronages, patronages? Sure.

Patronages? [laughs] Patronus charm?

Patronus.

[laughs] Patronuses.

Uh.

That led Andrew to lose his honorary titles at Royal Portrush, Royal Belfast, and Royal County Down.

Well done, Queen.

Well, that happened in the last couple years, right? Yeah.

So, what, those courses have lost their-

No, no, he lost his patronage at those golf clubs, so they are no longer-

He can't play there anymore.

No. Wow.

[laughs] Wow, wow, wow.

I don't think he does anything anymore.

It says the Royal Dublin.

The Royal Dublin?

The Royal Dublin? It's on my list, and I just Googled it.

I don't know if that's real or not, but it says-

That sounds right

...

the Royal Dublin.

It says in Northern Ireland there's Royal Portrush, Royal County Down, Royal Belfast.

Wales, there's Royal St David's, Royal Port Cr- uh, Port Crall, Porthcrall.

Scotland's got a bunch, England's got a bunch.

Hmm.

And then Canada's, oh yeah, there are some in Canada.

Yeah.

Royal Montreal, Royal Ottawa, Royal Calwood, Royal Quebec, Royal Regina, and Royal Mayfair.

Wow.

Australia's got a bunch.

South Africa's got a bunch.

We don't have any.

No.

No, but we're not part of the Commonwealth, right?

No.

Good point.

No, we're not.

That's a good point.

There's one in Zimbabwe.

Outta the way job.

Yeah, former colonies.

Yeah, that's right.

That's interesting.

It's a good question.

Anyways, Royal County Down, we got it on a one of one day, I would say.

Yeah.

Sounds like.

It was, like, 75 degrees, sunny, very little wind.

[laughs] Yeah.

It was shining.

It was sparkling.

Uh, it was very, very, um, on par in terms of excitement mixed with nervous anxiety level for tee shots that I, I can recall hitting before at a Cypress or a Pebble or an Oakmont or a Shinnecock where it just felt like one of those golf swings that you're gonna remember forever, is, like, walking up to the first tee.

You want the round to go well so badly.

It's one of those that, you know...

Royal County Down, with it being in Northern Ireland and the ranking that it has and, like, almost, almost the mythical aura that it has, like, I never really thought I would ever play Royal County Down.

Pebble Beach, I think you could always kind of maybe see as a kid of, like, you can go pay and book a room and play at some point.

Maybe I'll be successful later in life and be able to do that with my dad or brother, who knows? Royal County Down's like on another planet.

It's like in another solar system.

I just never thought I would ever get there.

So when you're walking up to that tee, you're gonna hit the first tee shot.

It's a par five.

There's basically the ocean on the right.

There's dunes on the left.

I kind of got that, and I'll remember that, like, jittery feeling forever of standing on that tee hoping to God that it goes well, and I just don't think there's that many places that can deliver that

thatYeah, I agree.

It really did, uh, the, the tone is set right when you walk in.

And, and we're lucky enough to be staying at the Slieve Donard, which is on property.

So you walk right out of your hotel room, across the street, or it's not even across the street, it's in the backyard, and they have this little gate that you walk through that says Royal Port Ro- uh, Royal County Down.

Um, and then you're just on property.

It's an amazing clubhouse and amazing pro shop.

I love the aesthetic of it.

It's this big, white building.

You s- I think, uh, it was a, it was a red roof-

Mm-hmm

... which was very, uh, you know, distinctive.

And it was, yeah, it was an amazing first T- T-ball feeling and just vibe.

And, uh, my caddy, um, he had told me that he thinks that in May, this is the b- that was the best day at Royal County Down of his lifetime-

Oh my God

...

in terms of weather.

Yeah.

We got it, literally the best May day that he's ever seen, and he's a member there.

[laughs]

And he was, like, 100 too.

He was 100 years old.

He was an old guy.

[laughs]

Yeah, he was.

Yeah.

I mean-

He's 100 years old.

He was.

Um, so yeah, it was an incredible day, man, just from beginning to end.

We're obviously not gonna give away too much.

We have such good content coming out from this entire Ireland trip.

So many videos.

I've been getting a lot of messages being like, "I can't believe you guys are still there.

This is gonna be some of the best series you guys have ever put out."

[laughs]

I mean, it's video after video, the best courses on this island.

And, uh, the fact that we got to film at Royal County Down is pretty phenomenal.

And it was a great match, a great day.

I think everyone was up for it, and, uh, I think people are gonna enjoy it.

I really do.

It's something about that mountainous- the, the mountain backdrop-

Yeah

... that it, I said it almost has this, like, weight on your chest the whole time.

You know? It's like the course itself is incredible.

Blind shots everywhere, but then the reveals are outrageous.

It's that, I think it's called the Mountains of Mourne, the Mourne Mountains.

Yeah.

They are just, like, it's Inception almost, where they're, they almost feel like they're getting bigger as the round goes on, you know? And they're o- they're in view of 13, 14 hole.

I mean, there's really not that many holes that go away from it.

It's amazing.

And when they do go away from it, you got the ocean on the right, like you said.

So yeah, it's number one in the world outside the US, and, and that's for good reason.

I mean, it really lived up to all the hype, in my opinion.

Yeah, it was, it was spectacular.

I, I, uh, I agree with that, with the mountains.

It's, you don't really expect that over here in links golf.

Uh, I think it was either Martin or one of the caddies made the point that you really don't s- or it might've been Kevin on the last show, where you don't really get links golf at the foot of a mountain range, ever.

Yeah.

You know? Like, St.

Andrews, by its very nature, is like seven links courses within the St. Andrews Trust and links property, and that's 'cause it's, like, all flat [laughs] out on the, out on the coast, and that's what links land is.

And at most, you get sort of a dune bag where you get links land with some really cool dune features that add interesting movement to the land.

This one is not only the mountains, but it's like you can see the church steeple and a bit of the skyline that just, it has almost this, almost this, like, religious and spiritual feel to it when you're looking back, um, or when you're playing the second half of the front nine, the second half of the back nine, which goes back towards the clubhouse in the town of Newcastle.

So the mountain range, kind of the really historic, like, beautiful skyline, if you wanna call it that, of the town, and then the landscape, which was just phenomenal.

It was, again, kind of shining yesterday with the sunlight.

Like, the mown, well-kept grass, the conditions were perfect, but had that, like, light green shine to it among sort of the rugged dunes and tall grass and bunkers.

And the, f- is it the fourth hole that's the par 3-

Mm-hmm

... that we turned back towards?

Yeah.

Um-

Is it gorse or gorsh?

Gorse.

[laughs]

Yeah.

I kinda like gorsh.

[laughs]

Yeah.

I've been saying gorsh.

Feels gorsh.

I want that noted.

But I heard some people putting a little bit of zhoosh at the end of it.

Gorsh.

[laughs]

Gorsh.

Gorsh sounds like a beer in Germany.

[laughs]

[laughs] The gorse was in full bloom-

Yeah

... which is not that often as well.

Beautiful.

You don't see that that often.

I mean, you hit it, I'll hit into it a few times, but it's still beautiful.

Yeah.

It's got that yellow-orange hint to it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is beautiful.

Pop of color.

I loved it, but I'm still gonna put Tralee ahead of it.

Tralee's incredible.

That's very interesting.

I'm still gonna go Tralee ahead of RCD, for me.

And, and I don't think that's crazy.

No.

I just, you know.

I mean, the, the offici- the people who rank and the people who really get into this stuff, they're gonna say that's crazy.

Sure.

But who ca- like-

Fuck those people

...

I agree.

For sure.

At the end of the day, who cares? It's whatever you like.

Yeah.

And for Tr- like, Tralee being the first course that, you know, that we saw in terms of Ireland, and I know you'd been here, but I don't think you played Tralee the first time around that we were here.

No.

So that was, yeah, there was something about that place that was gorgeous and beautiful, and I love Royal County Down as well, but, like, I, I think you saying that is not as ridiculous as some people might think.

Weird, give me your rankings of the ones we've played so far.

Yeah, just say one and two maybe.

One and two? Oh, wow.

See, I do think, I like Tralee the most.

No, there you go.

Look at us.

I really did.

Couple of taste makers.

I'm willing to jump, I'm willing to jump off that, that bridge with you if you want.

Let's do it.

Mm.

And I really do, it ha- part of it has I, I played a little bit better at Tralee.

It was the first experience I had in Ireland.

I really liked the vibe of that place.

Don't get me wrong, Royal County Down is great.

It's, it lives up to the hype that everyone's talked about, and these guys have described it in a very accurate way.

But there was just something about Tralee that I loved.

Yeah.

I loved it dearly.

Yeah, me too.

So I, you know, again, that's probably outrageous and borderline sacrilegious to some people that are listening to this, but I don't care.

I, I love that attitude, for sure.

And I get, I fight a little bit of, like, wanting, like, am I, am I falling victim to saying, like, if I think Roundca- Royal County Down was the best, saying it just because that's what the rankings say?And like feeling like you're supposed to say that

Yeah.

And I don't, and I don't even think those people, they're pro- They know more than I do in terms of, like, the history and probably the architecture of it and all of that.

So they're basing it in a place that is very real, but I was just visually and the way that I felt, it's all very subjective.

So I was just like the way that I felt and the way that I took in the golf course and the way that I played, that's the one thing that I don't think everyone factors that in, but some people aren't honest about it.

Yeah.

Where it's like if you play really well-

For sure

... somewhere, I love that place.

For sure.

Yeah.

Sorry.

Like I play, you know, maybe I didn't play as well at Royal County Down, which I didn't, and I, I don't, maybe spoiler alert, but like Tralee, I just had a better time, and that's it.

It's a better memory.

Yeah.

I played similar both days, Tralee and Royal County Down, so I feel like I had ...

And I was pretty much on.

Like I felt like I was hitting good golf shots.

Yeah, you were.

I was utilizing what the caddy was giving me in terms of where to hit it and hit certain shots to let it run up or hit the right side of the green and let it roll, trickle down.

So both places I had an unbelievable experience, but I'm gonna put Royal County Down just a little bit higher than it.

I, I loved Tralee.

I even showed Brendan pictures of Tralee while we were at Royal County Down saying, "Look at that.

Like, l- let's not forget how good that place was."

Yeah.

Yeah.

Some second shots, third shots into those greens at Tralee, they were built into these mounds with the ocean in view at every single h- uh, basically every single hole.

Um, that place was phenomenal, but there were some times where I was on a tee box at Royal County Down where I felt like I was inside a, a snow globe city or something.

[laughs] Yeah.

You know, one of those fake towns with the f- the steeple and the mountain, and just you could see certain cars just going around these windy, these windy roads going towards the mountain.

And yeah, it was, uh ...

Yeah, I, I, I think I'm gonna fall victim to just saying the number one course in the world was my number one.

There's nothing wrong with that.

I know.

And I feel similarly, and I, I, I do.

I sort of, uh, like views matter.

You know? Like views matter.

So when I look at Tralee, it was, I think every single hole at Tralee was a wow, pull out your phone-

Yeah [laughs]

... hole.

No kidding.

Every single one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And Royal County Down isn't the same on that level.

And views matter in the sense of like go look at home prices.

House prices with views of the ocean-

Of course.

Mm-hmm

... are significantly more expensive than homes that aren't.

So like views to us as humans clearly matter.

The market has determined that.

Um, so I'm with you where it's like I'm not gonna sit here a- and, and this is something that I fight, where like you don't want to be some architectural snob, but almost people feel inclined to devalue views because they think it's taking away from their prowess of knowing golf course-

Right

... purity and all that.

So I also don't want to be that fucking loser that does that.

Yeah.

So I fight a lot of that.

And what I kind of do go back to is like I'm such a history guy, and I'm such a like tradition guy.

That's always made a, a big impact on me, the history of Royal County Down.

When we had Kevin on, he was talking about the, the Wednesday, Saturday hat game at Royal County Down.

When it says 1896 or whatever it says on the h- back of the hat, that matters to me.

When it, when it has this prestige in the, in the view that I've played golf holes that have views of the ocean like we had at Tralee.

Not the same, because it was Ireland and there's broken castles and all that, but views of the ocean, whereas the views that like Frankie was describing of the mountains of Mor and the steeple, I've never seen anything like that in my life, and you're playing that golf course.

And then the feeling that I had was just different when I was trying to hit shots than the feeling that I had playing Tralee.

It just was.

Like that first tee shot was, you know, one of five feelings that I've ever had in golf of like, "Holy fuck, I'm at Royal County Down about to hit this tee shot." Um, and, and that tee shot on four of that like part three.

Um, and then the other part from like a golf course, you know, whether it's architecture, layout, playability, whatever it is, is like there were s- there were several shots that I really like wrestled with how to hit the shot, and like I, I f- and I think that that really gets me going on like somebody building a golf course in a really interesting, proper way, that when I look back, it's like I made a couple doubles where like I hit a good tee shot, I hit a good iron, but I didn't hit the right shot.

And it was downwind off the right, and I kind of got it going to the left side of the green that like in America would have just landed checked, and I would've had a 20-footer up the hill.

Here, it bounced left, it had the wrong spin, it kicked into some tall grass, and I made double.

And like that was annoying in the, in the moment.

I was fury- frustrated in the moment, but when I look back, I'm like, "That's fucking proper golf.

That's cool that I had to wrestle with that."

Yeah.

And I like that.

Like I just kind of, I, I get off on that a little bit, of shots being more interesting than feeling like you're just a joystick that's trying to hit an 8-iron 156 yards into the air and like have it stop on a dime.

And so not that Tralee didn't have that.

It did.

I just thought Royal County Down had that on a higher level.

Um, and same off the tee, where it was like, you know, Frankie on one hole, I'm not gonna give it away, but like pulled out driver, fucking piped one.

We all were going nuts, and you learn that like ep- amazingly it might not have been the right shot, because it ends up in a bunker.

Yeah, they have cross bunkers that you can't see, and you just don't need driver.

It's amazing.

Yeah, and that, I find that as, as infuriating as it is, and you probably hit, that was probably the best swing anybody made all day, and it took away your ability to make a lower score in that hole.

Yeah.

And I just, I love that, as crazy as that sounds.

I find that awesome.

Um, and so all of that kind of adding up, I thought the same thing with Tralee was like my number one coming in, and I do think I'd put Royal County Down just a bit ahead of it.

Even saying the name gets me like fired up.

Yeah.

Great name.

It's [laughs] Royal County Down.

It's a privilege to get to argue about these things.

Privilege.

Yeah, it is.

It is.

You know? We get to argue about whether Tralee-

Incredible

... or Royal County Down or playing Portrush tomorrow.

That one might be number one for us.

Yes.

I've heard that.

Yeah, it's gonna be number one.

[laughs]

I really do.

You think so?

I heard that.

I've heard that it's, it's hard to beat.

See, that-

People that have done this same trip are like, "Wait until you get to Portrush." There's just something about it.

That's where I'm already jacked up for reasons that you're talking about Royal County Down, where-You know, we watched Shane win there a few years ago, more than a few years ago now.

But I've watched his hour documentary over and over.

Yeah.

It's so interesting.

I love the history of that place.

So going in, you always have baggage one way or another, positive, negative.

Usually positive with a golf course, 'cause you've just watched people play it.

Mm-hmm.

Over the years, you've seen history play out there.

So Portrush I'm super excited for.

I am too.

And how about Waterville getting, uh, like just the sh- shafted because of the weather? That's what happens.

It, it really is.

I mean, you have to just, you know, gi- give an honest, like, uh, exception there because w- it's impo- w- in, in, in a week where we've had pretty much, uh, sort of like singularly good weather for this week in, in Ireland, uh, for Waterville to be the one course that was just hitting us with everything it had from a weather perspective, uh, feels unfair-

Totally

... to it.

But, um, yeah, I do wonder, I do wonder too, like, I think I would have enjoyed County Down a lot more pl- if we played it again today.

Yeah.

Because-

I, I feel that too

...

there were, the blind shots just wreaked havoc on my sort of ability to feel confident over the ball.

And you talk about the views, the opposite of having a view is a blind golf shot.

Mm-hmm.

Literally blind.

Mm-hmm.

And I am a sucker for seeing the golf hole in front of me, for seeing the ocean near me.

In fact, I actually thought Ardglass from a wow factor, from an eye s- you know, what we saw, that blew me away.

Yeah.

Um, so I don't really know where I would put County Down.

I don't think I would even put it second, to be honest with you.

Wow.

I love it.

Yeah.

I love it.